UAE sends 100 tonnes of food aid to South Sudan

The UAE has so far sent 8,810 tonnes of food and medical supplies to Sudan and Chad in 133 planes, as well as on a ship that carried about 1,000 tonnes of urgent relief supplies. Photo: Wam

The UAE has sent a plane carrying 100 tonnes of food supplies to South Sudan as part of its humanitarian drive to support the country's refugees.

The shipment was sent on Thursday via the World Food Programme, state news agency Wam reported.

The aid will be distributed to Sudanese refugees displaced by the conflict in their homeland, which has been raging since April.

Sultan Al Shamsi, Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for Development Affairs and International Organisations, said the shipment is the latest effort by the UAE to deliver crucial aid to Sudan as part of its humanitarian drive to support countries in need.

The fighting in Sudan has forced about 300,000 people to flee their homes, with “many in panic with no option than fleeing on foot”, according to the UN.

They join the more than six million who have been displaced since the war broke out in April in Khartoum.

Earlier this year, the UAE opened an air bridge with Sudan and Chad to send food and medical aid to groups most in need.

It has so far sent 8,810 tonnes of food and medical supplies in 133 planes, as well as on a ship that carried about 1,000 tonnes of urgent relief supplies.

The UAE has also renovated three schools – a boys' school, a girls' school and a primary school in Amdjarass – as well as a field hospital that has treated thousands of Sudanese refugees since it opened in July.

The hospital was opened under the directive of President Sheikh Mohamed.

It has focused on cases involving children, women, the elderly and those with chronic diseases.

Last month, two UAE planes carrying humanitarian aid arrived in Amdjarass, Chad, carrying 19 tonnes of assistance for Sudanese refugees and the local community.

The aid included computers, stationery, school bags, more than 1,500 winter clothing items, 500 blankets, 20 laptops, more than 1,000 copies of the Quran and 930 solar-powered smart lighting devices.

Sewing machines were also delivered to allow the displaced to open a workshop.

The aid included pumps to complete the drilling of new wells that would provide drinking water as well as several water pumps for the city's main water station.

Crisis in Sudan – in pictures